Some existing broadcast technologies, such as Cell Broadcast, Multimedia Broadcast/Multicast Service (“MBMS”), and video broadcast, e.g., Digital Video broadcast—Handheld (“DVB-H”), MediaFLO, have been proposed to support emergency alert notification(s) to wireless subscribers. A problem with such broadcast technologies, however, is that the end user does not know when an emergency alert is broadcast, and thus does not know that they need to tune to an appropriate broadcast channel for the emergency alert information.
While it has been proposed to continuously monitor the wireless subscriber's handset to determine if an emergency alert is being broadcast, continuous monitoring by the wireless subscriber's handset of the various broadcast technologies to determine if an emergency alert is being issued will likely have a major impact on the handset battery life depending upon which broadcast technology/technologies are being continuously monitored (e.g., Cell Broadcast). With current battery life limits, the end user experience would be impacted due to reduced handset battery life.
Accordingly, improved ways of notifying users of EAS alerts via networked portable devices supporting telephony radio network and/or broadcast technologies are desired. Moreover, ways of notifying users of alerts are desired that do not require ongoing polling of an emergency communication channel.